The Bible

 

Matthew 2:12

Study

       

12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

Commentary

 

Christmas Gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

By New Christian Bible Study Staff

The Adoration of the Magi, a Design for Bas Relief.

In the Christmas story, the wise men bring gifts to the Lord: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The gold is listed first, because it is the inmost - signifying good, e.g. the good that we do when we love the Lord and the neighbor.

The frankincense is next. It signifies rational truth, which is the set of true ideas that we know, not about external things like cars or cooking, but about what is really good, and what is really true.

These rational truths are built on earlier knowledges that we learn, before we have really made them our own. Those early knowledges about spiritual things - often learned in childhood - are represented by the myrrh.

In a way, these gifts are really a reciprocation. We can't actually give them to the Lord until the Lord has given them to us. We necessarily start out by learning and doing the Lord's law (myrrh). The Lord can then call up those memories to become rational truths (frankincense). Then, over time, and with effort, those truths can be transformed into good (gold). The wise men from the East had gone through this process of learning and becoming vessels that could receive truths and goods. They were able to perceive the Lord's birth, and find him, and bring gifts to him.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #661

Study this Passage

  
/ 1232  
  

661. And shall send gifts one to another, signifies their consociation. This is evident from the signification of "to send gifts," as being to be consociated by love and friendship through good will; for gifts from such an affection and disposition bring together both the well-disposed as well as the ill-disposed; here those are meant who are opposed to the goods of love and the truths of doctrine, which are signified by "the two witnesses" who were killed and cast forth into the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt. It is to be known that to the ill-disposed and wicked nothing is more delightful than to destroy the goods of love and the truths of doctrine wherever they are, and to do evil to those with whom these are; for such burn with hatred against these; consequently from the hell where such are there continually breathes forth a deadly hatred against celestial love and spiritual faith, and therefore against heaven, and especially against the Lord Himself; and as often as they are permitted to do evil they are in the delight of their heart. Such is the brutal nature of those who are in hell.

This, therefore, is what is meant by "they shall rejoice over them and shall be glad." Moreover, the wicked enter into friendships and consociate themselves for doing harm to the well disposed; they are consociated by the delight of hatred, which is the delight of their love; this makes them appear as if friends in heart, when yet they are enemies. This, therefore, is the signification of "shall send gifts one to another."

[2] Because gifts captivate the mind and consociate, it was a custom in ancient times to give gifts to the priest and the prophet, as also to the prince and the king, when they were approached (1 Samuel 9:7, 8); and it was also a statute:

That they should not appear empty (that is, without a gift) before Jehovah, but in their feasts everyone should bring a gift according as he had been blessed (Exodus 23:15; 34:20; Deuteronomy 16:16, 17).

So too:

The wise men from the east brought gifts to the Lord just born, gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:11);

according to the prediction in David (Psalms 72:10). So again:

The oblations upon the altar, which were sacrifices, and also the meal offerings and drink-offerings, were called gifts (Isaiah 18:7; 57:6; 66:20; Zephaniah 3:10; Matthew 5:23, 24; and elsewhere);

and this because external gifts signified internal or spiritual gifts, namely, such as go forth from the heart, and thence are of the affection and faith; and as by these conjunction is effected, in the spiritual sense "gifts" in reference to God signify conjunction, and in reference to men consociation.

  
/ 1232  
  

Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.